Qantas Super dragging chain on early access

The super arm of Qantas has blamed job cuts and its historical legacy for delayed responses to members requesting early access.

Qantas Super has been slow in paying members who have requested early access to funds. Picture: John Feder

The superannuation arm of Qantas has blamed job cuts and its historical legacy for delayed responses to members requesting early access to their super balance due to financial hardship caused by coronavirus.

Nearly 1200 Qantas Super account holders are still waiting for the airline to deposit money into their accounts after it was requested under the federal government’s COVID-19 early release super scheme.

Statistics provided by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reveals that as of May 3, Qantas Super had paid $8.9m to 1961 account holders out of 3186 who had applied for early access to funds.

APRA’s figures indicate that only 44.4 per cent of Qantas Super members were paid in the allocated five business day turnaround period set by the Australian Taxation Office.

It also reported a subdued response in providing funds within six to nine business days, with a pay delivery rate at 55 per cent.

A Qantas Super spokeswoman said the lag in payment had partially been a result of workers being stood down within the airline, as part of its cost-saving measures.

The Qantas group has taken a significant financial hit as the health crisis forces its planes to remain grounded.

It has also blamed its “80-year history”, flagging that its “complex” fund had caused initial delays in application requests.

“Qantas Super has an 80-year history that stretches from the second world war onwards,” a spokeswoman said.

“This history means that we are a complex fund with several different defined benefit and defined contribution divisions, which caused some delays when the new early release system was first introduced.”

Assistant Superannuation Minister Senator Jane Hume noted while the majority of superannuation industry had paid members within the allocated time frame, there were laggards.

“Clearly some funds still have room for improvement in performance and I look forward to seeing how that evolves when the next set of data is released next week,” she said.

“The release of data each week enables members to see how their fund is performing for them at the time they need it the most.”

Qantas said it was now working to a five-day turnaround ­period. The average payment to members has been $4518.